Halo-Axel, Hero in Training
by Waterheart9
Summary: Axel Taylors, a spartan in training, is pulled from her military academy and assigned to follow orders from a mysterious, unknown person. She becomes paired with a green AI named Zeta and a fellow spartan named Daniel Peters, who will gladly follow her through thick and thin. (Rated T for mild amounts of blood, however it does not have inappropriate content)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 **Author's Note: Ok, so this is the first chapter of** **Proving Her Worth** **to get a new update! Also, I'm changing the title to** **Axel, Hero in Training.** **or "AHT" for short. This chapter is basically the same as before other than a few changes in wording that are probably unnoticeable. But I promise, there will be others with more changes than this. enjoy!**

It was quiet, as if the entire world had ended. She felt cold, freezing, actually. But she didn't care, she was too comfortable. Besides, she felt as if she were in a trance, and she didn't even want to move. Her eyes were shut tight, and she wasn't awake, however she was unaware of it. Instead, she dreamt of the adventures, and dangers, that she would soon go on.

Axel was in cryogenic storage, as she had been for a few months now as she floated through space on a small cruiser headed toward a far-away planet. She was headed toward an academy much like Corbulo had been, differing in the fact that it only took in spartans, but it had been placed on a small speck in the universe in hopes of more security and isolation. No academy meant no new soldiers, which meant nobody to fight against the Covenant. And that meant the end of mankind.

On the small cruiser, Axel wasn't the only one aboard. She was joined by a few other recruits, which were in cryo-sleep as well. The sergeant, however, refused to enter a pod, because he didn't trust an A.I. to wake up the sleeping recruits. Of course, that meant he had to spend most of his time on the journey actually...well...looking up how to wake up the recruits.

Finally, a recorded message began playing throughout the entire ship, as if to make sure anyone and everyone could hear, even in cryo-sleep.

"Attention: Ship nearing designated location. Attention: Ship nearing designated location," the voice kept repeating. The small team had finally reached the military academy. The sergeant jumped from the floor, where he had been reading the same magazine he had read for the last few months. He scrambled over to a control panel, finally happy to do something more than just sit around and do nothing. He touched the holographic screen in a few places, and the same voice came on once again.

"Cryo-pods opening. Please stand back," it said, icy steam beginning to seep from

each pod, along with a bunch of lights flickering on. The ice that had emerged from the edges of each pod slowly began to shrink away as they began to warm up and the recruits were awakened. One at a time, each cadet pulled himself from the pods, each one trying to get used to being conscious again. A few fell to their knees, muscles weak.

Axel grabbed the rim of her pod and pulled herself out, looking at her squad, wondering why they were all struggling so much where as she felt as if she had been awake the whole time. She also noticed that she was the only girl on her squad. _Hmph, typical...they don't think girls can fight…_ she thought with a smile.

"ALRIGHT! WE'RE HERE, MAGGOTS!" the sergeant hollored. Axel felt herself smile wider. She always thought it was funny how sergeants called people "Maggots" when maggots were supposed to be the disgusting insects that crawled into dead animals and ate their flesh inside out. The group surrounding her looked as if they couldn't kill a butterfly with a rocket launcher.

Normally this would be the point where the sergeant would tell his squad to grab weapons, but no one had even seen the weapons yet, as well as not having armor. They were all wearing pretty casual stuff; beige t-shirts with long, camouflage pants and hiking boots, along with some dog-tags here and there.

"Get moving! We need to get you cadets suited up and armed! Every second you go without it means if the Covenant come you're all ash and dust!" the sergeant hissed. Axel was already opening the hatch that lead outside. She hoped to be the best in her squad. The fastest, smartest, strongest...she wanted to prove that a girl could be the best.

Axel was pretty casual and even silly at times, but when it came to battle and proving her worth, she was always straight-minded and serious. As she headed out the door, she heard whispering behind her. Two recruits behind her were trying desperately to have a secret conversation. Axel knew there were no secrets between a squad. If there were, there was no trust.

Of course, Axel felt the need to listen in, but made no move to slow down or lean toward them. They would surely realize her eavesdropping if she did so. So instead, she continued walking casually forward, head remaining pointed straight. She used her eyes to direct her, while using all her other senses to listen in on the conversation.

"Dude, I can't believe we have a _girl_ in our squad!" one whispered.

"Yeah, the only thing we can do with her is hit on her!" the other snickered. The first boy shushed the second one, and Axel resisted the urge to turn around and sock them both in the jaw. The boys continued whispering about her, but she had heard enough. Sure, it had been rude, but thing worth her time.

Axel sped up her pace until she was a reasonable distance away from everyone else. She took this short time to herself to take in her surroundings. She was walking through a forest, with lush, tall trees and bushes speckled with red and blue berries. However, on closer examination, Axel realized the berries were really eyes, and the bushes were fuzzy green bodies belonging to some sort of strange primitive alien moving across the forest floor casually and peacefully. Or at least, it was peaceful until one of the recruits threw a rock at it. The creature took one look at him and began charging at him with legs hidden beneath burly fur.

Axel kept walking, simply rolling her eyes and smirking as the recruit ran with a bush on his tail, the other recruits roaring with laughter. How pathetic and childish. But it was a bit funny.

Finally, the group came to a large metal square smack in the middle of a clearing. It had painted circles on it, and Axel realized it was a Falcon landing zone. She also noticed that she could now hear loud noises, a deafening rumble. Definitely a Falcon.

"Why did we walk all the way here when we could have just been picked up by a Falcon at the start?!" one cadet yelled angrily. Sergeant Smith whipped around to face him.

"Because! I didn't tell you this, but while you guys were getting your beauty sleep, I was trying to figure out how to wake you up from that nap and I may or may not have accidentally landed the ship a few miles away from where we were supposed to land, so quit your whining and get on the Falcon!" he spat, pointing toward three Falcons that were now in sight. There were nine recruits, and ten total people counting Sergeant Smith, so two Falcons would hold four cadets each; the third would hold three. Axel yanked herself into the third one because it just meant less people to talk to. She knew her time would come, but not now. She would show the others her amazing fighting skills, and they would be sorry for ever saying girls couldn't fight. She wasn't the first powerful woman, but the boys didn't seem to care. As the blades of the Falcon began twirling and the vehicle rose into the sky, Axel found herself feeling excited. Not to prove she could be a soldier, not to protect humanity, but she was excited that she didn't know what lay ahead.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Ok, here's Chapter 2 redone! Not much changed here, same with Chapter 3, but Chapter 4 has a few more dialogue changes as a head's up. Enjoy!**

Chapter 2

 _Front kick, back handspring, side swing, block. Repeat._

Axel found herself in her new quarters at the academy she had been sent to. She observed a few fighting vids she had managed to obtain, focusing intently on every move the soldiers on the computer screen made. Any free time she had, she would watch the same vids, memorizing the patterns. Soon, Axel found that she could now determine how the soldiers could have fought better, and also spotted the small slip-ups they made while in combat.

Axel didn't have much free time though, so she would stay up later than she was supposed to. This was her method of training herself more mentally than physically. The instructors and drill sergeants taught her plenty of physical things. She and the other recruits frequently went to sleep covered in mud, bruises, and occasional cuts.

Since there was an odd number of recruits in her squad, and there were two recruits per room, someone had to go without a roommate. Axel was the lucky cadet. She didn't mind not having a roommate, and personally enjoyed the peace and quiet. Besides, no roommate meant no one to get her in trouble for watching combat vids passed curfew.

Axel would never have admitted it to anyone, but she felt really...awkward and uneasy in this new place. She felt on edge, anxious, as if something bad was always about to happen. However, it never did, and she tried to ignore it most of the time. Despite that, she couldn't help but think about it as she went to bed late that night.

The next morning, Axel woke up at 0400, an hour earlier than she needed to be up. Today, she and her squad would be receiving their armor. That was one thing that differed from Corbulo. This was no regular military academy, but a school for Spartans. All of the recruits had the same muscles, build, and size of a Spartan IV. It was only a matter of training them.

Axel knew very well that they would have a very limited time to prepare for the day, so she made the decision to make the time. She combed her hair, brushed her teeth, etc. She took her time, knowing that if the others woke up on time, they would end up in a hurry and, in a panic, begin doing a horrible job of getting ready. By the time she was done, it was 0500.

As lights turned on and doors opened, sleepy recruits came shuffling sleepily out of their rooms. However, they looked nothing like recruits. Their hair was scruffy, their backs were bent, and they still had disgusting yellow crust and bags on their eyes. Then, of course, there was Axel, fully dressed and wide awake. Her uniform was straightened, her hair pulled back into a smooth ponytail. Her back was straight, as were her lips.

A few cadets looked at her and shook their heads with disapproval, others seemed confused as to how she had gotten ready so fast. Axel had expected this, and simply ignored it as she headed to the area where she and her squad would receive their spartan armor.

A few moments later, Axel found herself on a touchscreen computer. Her squad leader had instructed everyone to use the provided device to design what they wanted their armor to look like. Axel chose a Scout helmet, and just sort of randomly picked the rest of the suit parts. She chose Azule for her primary color and Cerise for her secondary color. Axel wasn't too much of a sparkle obsessed girly-girl, but she did enjoy pink and an occasional pinch of glitter. This was like her way of showing it.

After reviewing each part of the suit several times, Axel decided that she liked everything about it and pushed the "Finish" button. She touched and held a button on the screen and it went dark.

Axel turned around, pushing herself backward in the fancy white swivel seat she had been sitting in, jumping to her feet and leaving the room. Her next destination was the room where all the other spartans were fitted into their armor. As she walked through the halls, she figured 3D printers or whatever was used to make the suits were working frantically to complete the armor she had just designed. Axel couldn't help but feel fascinated by how advanced technology had become in the last five hundred years.

As soon as Axel entered the giant room, she felt a wave of astonishment crash over her. It was filled with large metal hoops, definitely the machines people used to put on their armor. She could even see some spartans in the middle of them here and there, gripping onto handles as the machine placed each set of armor onto their bodies. Axel could even see some of her own squad members getting their armor placed on.

After a moment, a short man with round glasses and black hair walked over to Axel, holding what looked to be a futuristic tablet.

"Please state your name," he said, never looking up from his tablet-thingy. Axel stared at him curiously.

"I'm Axel Taylors," she said smoothly. The nerdy-looking guy punched some things into his device and beckoned her to follow him. The two didn't walk far, maybe around ten yards. Soon, the pair came to a stop at one of the large hoops. The nerd nodded his head toward it, signaling her to step inside.

As Axel did so, she felt metal clamp on to her feet. Well, if she needed to run away for some reason, she'd be stuck like glue. She reached up to the handles on the side of her, and tried her best to copy what she had seen the other Spartans doing when she had entered. The nerd flicked the machine on from a panel next to it that Axel hadn't noticed before. She heard some buzzing, and heard a small amount of metal clanging together.

When she looked down, she saw that the metal clamps on her feet had begun to fold up into boots. Robotic arms reached onto her knees and placed knee pads, followed by a chestplate, shoulder pads, and a variety of other armor plating. Axel couldn't help but smile as she noticed they were blue and pink, just as she had requested. Finally, her Scout helmet was placed. She was impressed by her HUD display; it had radar in the bottom left and armor strength at the top.

Axel flexed her hand into a fist and back out again, trying to get used to wearing such heavy armor. She looked down at herself, deciding she really liked how it had turned out. The nerd pointed toward another room on the far side of the one she was in.

"Go over there, that's where you can choose your weapons," he said. Almost immediately he went right back to his tablet. Axel smiled, not caring that no one would see it through her helmet. She began walking toward the next room, listening to the stomps that she made as she walked in the heavy armor. " _I feel like a robot!"_ she thought. She chuckled to herself slightly as she left the armory.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: Here's the Rewrite of Chapter 3! Enjoy!**

Chapter 3

"That's a lot of weapons,"

"Yeah, there's a lot of Covenant too. What's your point?"

"I dunno...there are just...so many!"

Two recruits stood at a giant wall covered in different varieties of U.N.S.C. guns, grenades, tactical packages, and other equipment. One man was wearing red armor and a Warrior helmet, which he held at his side, and the other had lime armor with an E.O.D. helmet, which remained on his head.

Axel came up behind them. She had just walked into the room the nerd had pointed her to, and this is what she had found.

"Are you going to pick some or just stare at them like a kid stares at a glass candy display?" Axel asked, pushing herself between them and grabbing some frag grenades. They turned to her, and one jumped in surprise at her sudden presence.

"Uh...yeah...we were just...deciding what to pick…" the other stammered. Axel snickered while she grabbed a Magnum and hooked it to her hip.

"Uh-huh. Sure you were," she said sarcastically, grabbing an invisibility armor enhancement. "Hey, do they have any Covenant weapons?" she asked, searching the wall. She had done as much research on the Covenant as she could about a week ago, and knew that Covenant weaponry was powerful.

The boy in lime armor pointed to another wall on the side opposite of them.

"Over there. But there aren't very many, and some don't have any ammo. They're some things that one of the other squads managed to steal on the battlefield. Oh, yeah, there's some Forerunner weaponry too," he explained. "I'm Tony, by the way. Tony Jay," he said, elbowing the boy next to him, as if urging him to introduce himself.

"The name's Norwood. Chris Norwood," the boy in red armor said, failing horribly at a James Bond impression. Axel resisted the urge to face-palm. That movie was so old, she was amazed anyone still knew what it was. Instead of slapping her own face, she simply folded her arms, which felt a bit awkward as the armor on her wrists clanked together in a weird way. The boy apparently known as Tony stepped in front of Chris.

"Ignore him, he's an idiot when it comes to talking to girls," he explained. Chris frowned. Axel gave a chuckle.

"I can tell," she said, smiling. She knew they couldn't see it through her helmet, but she didn't mind. She turned to go toward the wall in which Tony had pointed her to.

"By the way, I'm Axel," she said as she began walking away.

Once she reached the wall of Covenant and Forerunner technology, she tried to run through which weapon would be the best. Needlers weren't too effective, neither were Plasma Pistols, she decided. Storm Rifles were pretty effective, but they overheated too quickly. There was an energy sword, but it had run out of energy and all that was left was the handle, so that was out of the question. There was a Covenant Carbine and a Light Rifle, but they were both out of ammo.

Finally, Axel found something that she wanted, a fully loaded Suppressor. It was rapid-fire, and it did quite a bit of damage. She pulled it off its mount and hooked it onto her back. As she headed out the door, she quickly grabbed some plasma grenades to add to her frag grenades.

A few minutes later, Axel was standing outside in the grass with the rest of her squad all lined up in a row. Sergeant Smith was in front of them, barking orders. They were about to go through a Firefight Simulation with another squad, like one of those pretests you take on things you haven't even learned yet. Axel hoped her studying had paid off.

"Ok spartans, your objective is very simple. All you have to do is neutralize the enemy team. If you did what you were told, you put all the weapons you picked out in your rooms. I've provided you with assault rifles filled with stun rounds, so you will not actually hurt anyone. Too badly, anyway. So, would anyone like to take point? If you're too chicken, I'll pick for you!" Sergeant Smith explained. Everyone looked at each other nervously. Suddenly, a hand shot up. It was the Norwood kid Axel had met earlier.

"I will, sir!" he said, glancing at her.

"Now he's just trying to impress you ,"whispered a familiar voice next to her. It was Tony. How had she not noticed that he was right next to her?

"Finally! I thought we were gonna have to start drawing straws!" Sergeant Smith said, pointing toward Chris.

Suddenly, a loud buzzer sounded from seemingly nowhere.

"Ok recruits, that's the starting bell! Get going!" the Sergeant said, pointing toward the edge of the forest. Each cadet ran toward the forest, eager for battle.

It was quiet and actually sort of peaceful in the forest, despite the sounds of leaves and twigs cracking under the cadets' feet. Tony padded softly up to Chris.

"Ok, what's the plan now, genius?" he asked, knowing Chris had no idea what he was doing.

"I...uh…" he stuttered, trying to think of a plan quickly. Finally, he sighed. "I don't know...c...could someone else take point? So...ya know...we don't lose because of me?" he said. Axel could hear in his voice the disappointment of failing to impress her. She almost felt bad for him. Then it was her turn to sigh.

"Fine, I'll take point," she grumbled, raising her hand and rolling her eyes.

"Yay!" Chris exclaimed, clapping his hands like a child. A few other recruits groaned. They probably didn't want to follow orders from a chick. As she had done many times before, Axel ignored them. Instead, she focused on a plan. They wouldn't be able to hide from the enemy squad, they would see them on their radar. _Unless we hold still…_

"Ok everyone, divide into two teams, four on one team and five on the other," she instructed. A few Spartans groaned again, but followed orders and disappeared through the brush.

"The team of five will stand in a large circle formation around this area. Make sure that once you get in position, get down and don't move. The team of four, just sort of... spread out and make yourselves appear vulnerable, but shoot if you have to," she said to the remaining men.

"So basically we're just bait?" one man asked angrily.

"Yes. Deal with it. Now go," Axel ordered, not wanting to waste time. The other squad was likely already making its way toward them. The man snorted, but did as he was told. Axel joined the first team in a circle formation, holding still so that she was practically invisible on the radar. And soon enough, the enemy squad approached, checking their radar for Axel's squad and finding nothing except for the four men wandering aimlessly through the undergrowth.

As the enemy squad proceeded forward, they didn't notice Axel's group slowly and silently surround them.

"FIRE!" Axel shouted. Everyone on her squad shot at the unsuspecting squad, hitting every member with stun rounds quickly. The Firefight simulation was over as quickly as it had begun. A girl had lead her squad to victory.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Axel toyed with her armor enhancement, turning herself invisible and then making herself reappear. She found herself in the mess hall,sitting alone. She had expected her squad to shun her like this. They were young and immature. But to be fair, she could be the same way at times.

They hoped to break her down, make her the worst soldier on the squad just to prove a point. They didn't know that it was far from the truth. What was that old saying? What doesn't kill you makes you taller? Wait...that didn't sound right, but Axel couldn't recall what it actually was.

Axel had already finished her meal fairly quickly, but didn't feel like leaving.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps approaching her, and looked up to see Tony and Chris walking toward her. Chris slipped into the seat beside her and Tony sat across from her.

"Hey, nice job out there. You think fast!" Tony complimented, taking off his helmet to reveal short brown hair and a few freckles. Axel turned on her invisibility.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said. Someone turned to listen in on the conversation, expecting to see her, but instead getting confused by her sudden disappearance.

"Hey, I totally wanted you to take charge! I just...pretended not to have an idea…" Chris explained in an embarrassed way, scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah, sure you did, _Norwood,_ " Tony teased. Axel turned off her invisibility.

"Everyone hates me now," she said, pulling off her helmet. She didn't believe it, but she had been told by a few people that she was pretty. Her hair was as long as protocol would allow; any longer and she would have to cut it. She had freckles like Tony, along with bright blue eyes.

Axel set her Azule scout helmet down on the table while Tony looked at her curiously.

"What makes you say that? You lead the whole squad to victory!" Chris exclaimed with a friendly smile. Axel rested her chin on the top of the table, observing every detail in the cold metal tabletop.

"Because they figured that since I'm a girl I'd do horrible for my first time on the field. They all hate me now because I proved them wrong," she explained without emotion, as if it didn't bother her.

"Aww, they're just jealous. I still love you, baby!" Chris said, trying to wrap his arm around her. Axel slapped him on the hand.

"I know. That's what I'm upset about," she teased. Both her and Tony snickered. Chris started laughing, too.

Suddenly, Sergeant Smith came up to the trio.

"Cadet Taylors, I would like to speak with you. Please follow me. Norwood, Jay, you stay here," he instructed, turning around without waiting for their response. Axel looked back at the boys before snagging her helmet and following him.

"Permission to speak, sir?" Axel asked as the two walked through a hallway that she had never been to before.

"Go ahead, Taylors," Sergeant Smith said, not looking back at her.

"Where exactly are we going? Is this about my win for the squad earlier?" she questioned as she put on her helmet.

"Questions will be answered later, Cadet," Smith grumbled as the two continued to a small door where Axel, being immensely tall, had to duck in order to avoid hitting the top of the door frame.

As soon as Axel entered, she gawked at how gigantic the room was. It seemed to be about as big as a Grifball stadium, but in a dome shape. It appeared completely empty. As she observed the room, she heard a noise behind her and turned around just in time to see Sergeant Smith walk out, closing the door behind him and leaving her alone.

"What is this?" Axel called through the door. No response. "I know this is some kind of test!" A loud whirring sound came from behind her, and she drew her suppressor, which she had kept on her back. Axel whipped around, seeing that some small pillars were ascending from holes in the ground that closed up as soon as they reached ground level.

Suddenly, another spot in the floor opened up, sending up a platform filled with about ten ODST's. They all raised their weapons to her, and she raised her own weapon.

" _Come on guys, we're on the same team here!"_ Axel thought. It was silent for a moment, so quiet she could hear her breathing echoing off the walls. It was a silent staring contest between her and the ODST's.

" _Your move… "_

she thought, waiting for them to do something.

The first shot was fired, and Axel jumped to one of the pillars for cover. More shots were fired until there didn't seem to be a millisecond where bullets weren't being shot. _Am I supposed to take them out?_ Axel smirked, turning on her invisibility. She crawled down the edge of the room, and the ODSTs didn't seem to notice her. They were shooting blindly. However, they didn't seem to run out of ammo.

Axel was behind the group now, silently pulling out her knife. She assassinated the closest ODST to her, struggling to stay quiet and laying down the body lightly. She knew very well that she couldn't assassinate the rest of them, surely at least one of them would notice her. Then, a smile spread across Axel's face as a plan popped into her head. It was a very simple plan, but very effective. While still invisible, she slowly backed up, back as far as she could go until she hit a wall. She was still behind her attackers, so she turned off her armor enhancement to avoid wasting it. She didn't think it could run out, but you could never be sure with such fancy equipment.

Then, Axel decided to put her simple plan into action. She pulled out one of the frag grenades she had grabbed earlier. She pulled out the pin, and threw it as hard as she could. There was a loud clank as the grenade bounced on the ground right in the middle of the ODST's. Axel ducked and covered her head as the grenade detonated, sending ODST bodies flying.

"That was so cool! I am awesome!" Axel said to herself, beaming happily and doing a small victory dance. But then, something strange happened. All the bodies vaporized into blue pixels. Their weapons went with them. Sergeant Smith walked back into the room, and Axel turned to him.

"Congratulations, Cadet, you passed," he said gruffly. Axel pointed at him, pulling off her helmet.

"Aha! I knew it was a test! I don't know what for, but it was a test! I called it!" she teased, giggling a bit.

"Yes. Now we know you're ready. We're deploying you to another planet that is in desperate need of spartan assistance,"Sergeant Smith explained. Axel raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, what?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 **I tried to make things a little more interesting for once! Enjoy!**

"Sir, if you don't mind me asking...why are you so interested in this specific recruit?"

"Don't worry Zeta, I enjoy answering your inquiries. I wouldn't say I'm interested in her...I just want to study her. I can tell that she's...different from the others. I can tell she'll make a good soldier already,"

"How can you tell that? She's only been in two combat situations since becoming a recruit. Why did you ask Sergeant Smith to move her up a rank?"

"Zeta, you are very curious for an A.I. I didn't move her up a rank simply because she passed a simple test. That wasn't even the hard part. Her real test is how she will deal with this sudden change in rank,"

"Then you must be aware of the troubles the other Spartans will give her,"

"I do. That's what I'm counting on. Now, Zeta, please log off. There is something I need to take care of."

A young girl, about five years old, sat peacefully on her back porch in the middle of a cornfield. She stared up at the midnight sky, a magnificent display of shimmering stars, galaxies, and planets. The deep, dark blue universe had streaks of purple and even very light pink that marked galaxy after galaxy of spectacular beauty. It looked even more magical with the billions of stars that dotted the sleeping world like glitter glue would cover a piece of paper.

The girl's jaw gaped open in astonishment, then curved upward into an amazed smile. She dreamed of going up there, exploring the entire universe, with nothing to stop her. She could discover new things, experience the wondrous world and all that lay inside of it. There was no limit to her imagination.

But then, the girl's smile turned into a frown, and her eyebrows bent in fear. Something was wrong. The small child could smell smoke, and she could feel heat. Jumping off the porch, she sprinted into the cornfield. Turning around, she saw her house exploding into flames. A strange creature was trudging out of the small cottage. It had three long fingers on each hand, and it had grey, wrinkly skin. The girl also noticed that it was mostly covered in metal armor, and it was holding a strange, glowing object that resembled a sword.

Suddenly, the creature turned, and looked at her with beady eyes. It stared at her, studied her for a moment. Then, it began to run. It ran straight for her, glowing sword pointing toward her center. It was a few yards away, then a few meters, then a few feet. The creature reached to strike, and then...nothing.

Axel blinked her eyes open, slightly stunned and breathing heavily. _It was a dream...no...a memory...but not mine..._ She could still feel the heat of the flames and the cornstalks brushing up against her legs. Axel bit back tears, and got ready for her day. Sergeant Smith had told her that she would be deployed to another planet for more advanced training, and she would be in cryo-sleep for a while until they got there.

As Axel walked down a hallway to the shower rooms, she was stopped by a group of ODSTs. One boy shoved her shoulder, and another pushed her head so that her chin was jammed into her collar. Axel tried to ignore them, and kept walking forward.

One of the boys, who seemed to be the leader of the small gang, pulled hard on her ponytail.

"What?! What do you want?!" Axel hissed, whipping around to face the three ODSTs. The leader, a tall blonde boy, smiled, glad he had finally got her attention.

"Oh, we were just here to tell you something! You know, a little...advice," he said, smiling mischievously. Axel raised an eyebrow, willing him to go on. The ODST looked around, making sure no one else was in the halls.

"Me and my boys heard some gossip about you, ya know? We heard about how you weren't meant to be a soldier. Tell 'er, Jones!" the leader said, nodded toward one of the boys behind him.

"Yeah, they sayin' that they got your paperwork mixed up wit' someone else's! And you gettin' sent back to your home planet today!" The boy known as Jones said with an unusual accent, smirking as he said it. Axel rolled her eyes, knowing it wasn't true, and that this was their failed attempt at throwing her off. She turned to continue toward the showers, but was almost immediately stopped.

The third boy jumped onto her back, sending them both tumbling toward the ground. The remaining two boys ran over, punching and kicking her. But Axel wouldn't put up with it. She kicked upward, hitting flesh, and then flipping one of the boys backward with her feet. It sent him flying into another boy, and now only one remained while the others struggled to recover.

The boy still on her reached to pull her hair again, but she gripped his wrist tightly. Then Axel began twisting, harder and harder, until she heard a snap, and a squeal of pain. Unfortunately, the other two boys were closing in now. One threw a punch and Axel dropped onto her stomach, then swiveled around, knocking him off his feet. She jumped back up again to face the remaining ODST, the leader. He seemed a bit surprised that Axel had taken out two of his goons, but his brows furrowed and his mouth turned downward as he pulled up his fists. He punched, and Axel blocked. He kicked, and Axel blocked again.

 _I can win this...I can do this…_ Axel thought to herself, trying to think of strategies and ways that would provide her with just enough time to escape. But just then, the ODST pulled out a small dagger, raising it above his head menacingly. Just as he lunged for her, Axel gave him a powerful kick in the stomach, sending him sprawling backward and knocking him unconscious. She was panting heavily, but rushed away quickly.

As she looked at herself in one of the shower room mirrors, she saw that, before she had kicked the boy, he had sliced her cheek with his dagger. It trickled down her face, and she quickly snatched a paper towel to wipe it up. Axel had a few other cuts and bruises, but the one on her cheek was the worst. She had won, but at a small cost. That always seemed to be the case in war.

Axel stood inside a small cruiser, only meant to fit five people at the most. However, she was the only one aboard despite an A.I. that had been sent aboard to manage the ship. Axel had learned that the A.I.'s name was...what was it? Zara? No, Zeta, she remembered. Axel would be in cryo-sleep for most of the journey, and stood next to the nearest cryo-pod. Suddenly, a light flickered on a nearby panel, and Zeta appeared. She was green, and had long, curly holographic hair.

"You must be Cadet Taylors. Are you ready to go?" Zeta asked, arms folded behind her back. Axel, who was now wearing her armor, put on her Scout helmet and nodded.

"Yup, let's go," she answered as the cryo-pod next to her opened slowly. Zeta smiled.

"Ok. See you when you wake up," she said in a friendly voice, gesturing toward the cryo-pod. Axel stepped inside and watched the hatch close. As the pod grew colder, and ice crystals began to form around the edges, she couldn't help but feel curious about why she was being sent away. Axel closed her eyes, letting cryo-sleep overtake her.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 **Author's Note: Sorry I haven't been posting in a while! Here's Chapter 6!**

A few weeks later, Zeta sat cross-legged, scanning through all of the different parts of the ship. Nothing wrong. She had already scanned them multiple times, and everything seemed to be in order. However, Zeta was growing bored, running out of things to research.

The A.I. turned to the one pod that was in use, the one that held Axel. Zeta tilted her head, wondering what it was like to be a human. To feel the chill of the cryo-pods, the comfort of sleep, the freedom of being able to go places and do things...and to feel pain. To feel selfish and greedy and brutal and insane...Zeta was confused. She couldn't decide how to feel about the humans. On the plus side, they were absolute geniuses, they could engineer and innovate...they had even created her.

Zeta shook her head, trying to think of other things. Suddenly, the entire ship began to vibrate gently. She flipped through all of the ship's systems, but couldn't find anything wrong. Then the vibrating grew to a rumbling, then a violent shaking. Zeta suddenly found the problem. The ship was directly above the planet it was meant to land on, but it was being fired at by none other than the Covenant. The small cruiser was being fired at by about twelve banshees and two Phantoms, which were circling every edge of the ship.

Zeta quickly struggled to find the reactivation button for Axel's pod. Once she found it, she repeatedly pushed it as if it would make Axel wake up faster. Slowly but surely, the door to the pod opened, and Axel pulled herself out. She gave a stretch, raising both hands in the air.

"Are we here?" she asked calmly, unaware of the danger.

"No,we're under attack!" Zeta yelled frantically. "This little cruiser won't be able to hold up against so many ships!" she continued, beginning to press random buttons in hopes that one might generate a shield or something useful.

Suddenly, the whole ship lurched dramatically, and the front hull was ripped from the rest of the cruiser. Axel jumped back in surprise, astonished as she was faced with a large gaping hole in the ship big enough to see stars and planets.

Zeta threw her holographic hands to the sides of her head.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap...all the systems are down, we're directly above where we need to be but can't get to it, and HALF THE FREAKING SHIP IS MISSING! WHAT DO I DO?!" she cried, frustration and fear in her voice. Axel felt a bit surprised at the A.I.'s sudden outburst. However, she sort of understood...in a way. She felt a bit panicked, too. Axel shook her head to clear her mind, then spotted something metal on a wall close by, a jetpack. _I could use this..._

Axel snatched the jetpack, threw it on her back, pulled the panicking Zeta and put her in her head, then ran to the newly formed hole.

"Time to go," Axel said. Then, she jumped from the ship, hoping to escape before the Covenant discovered she had abandoned the cruiser. Zeta spoke.

"Heh, uh...quick thinking...so...uh...where are we going now?" she asked nervously, her voice now more embarrassed. Axel turned on the jetpack, and could now see its power displayed on her HUD.

"Well, while you were throwing a tantrum, you said we were right above the planet we need to be at. Therefore, I say we start there. Sound like a plan?" Axel explained with a small chuckle.

"O...ok!" Zeta answered. "Sounds good...hey, uh...how do you exactly plan to land on the planet without getting killed?" she asked. Axel shrugged as they both hurled toward the planet.

"I dunno, I guess we just hope I _don't_ get killed," Axel answered calmly. "Unless you could, I don't know, use some sort of A.I. power thingy to make my landing safer or something?" she continued. Axel may have been a good fighter, and she might have been smart and good with strategy, but she honestly didn't know crap about how A.I.'s worked.

Zeta snapped her holographic fingers.

"Actually, I might just be able to alter your armor lock to increase its strength, that could work! But...the fall would still hurt…" she trailed. Axel looked down at the planet below her, which was quickly getting closer.

"Well, whatever you're gonna do, DO IT NOW!" she cried, the calm in her voice now gone.

"I...I'm already working on it, but it could take a while, this is complicated stuff!" Zeta stuttered. She had retreated back into the chip on Axel's helmet. The planet was getting closer, bigger…

"Zeta...hurry up!" Axel pushed. She could feel searing heat as they entered the atmosphere at extreme speeds.

"I'm trying! I'm trying! the system's jamming!" Zeta answered.

"ZETA!" Axel cried. The Spartan and the A.I. crashed into the planet, sending dust flying in all directions. The dust settled, and all was quiet. There was a huge crater in the the ground, and in the middle lie Axel, lying on her stomach. She didn't move.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Large chunks of debris from the ship were scattered, and small craters speckled the ground. It was night, and the craters seemed to match the stars in the sky. In the darkness, a small green light flickered on, and Zeta appeared. She hovered about a foot above Axel, scanning her bio-readings. The A.I. gave a sigh of relief when she managed to pick up Axel's heartbeat. It was loud and strong, and Axel didn't seem to be too horribly injured, just unconscious.

Suddenly, the Spartan gave a lurch, and she got on her hands and knees, then leaned backward into a sitting position. She groaned in pain.

"Z...Zeta? W...what happened?" she asked, the confusion clear in her voice.

"Well, our planned worked, which is nice. However, now we don't have a ride so if we need to get off this planet we're basically doomed. Also, I lost connection with cell towers during the crash, so we can't call anyone to come pick us up. We'll have to walk from here," Zeta explained. Her voice sounded distracted, and she was looking off into the distance. She noticed Axel looking at her and quickly snapped out of the trance.

"Sorry, just...thinking. I mean, why would the Covenant go out of their way to try to kill a single A.I. and a Spartan that's still in training? It doesn't make sense..." the A.I. trailed, her voice becoming low and soft. Axel stopped staring at her and looked around a bit. She stopped at a large mound of debris from the ship. She threw some parts off the top to reveal a Mongoose. It was dented a bit, and the paint was peeling off, but it appeared to be in decent shape.

"Hey, what about this?"Axel asked, gesturing to the vehicle, which was lying on its side. Zeta glanced at it.

"I just scanned it. It's in good shape, but it doesn't have any gas. Unless you plan on pushing it, that Mongoose isn't going anywhere," Zeta replied with a frown. Axel looked around curiously for some sort of gas. However, there didn't seem to be any, and there also didn't seem to be any other U.N.S.C. vehicles, either.

Then, Axel heard running behind her. In a matter of seconds, she grabbed a broken pipe on the ground, whipped around, and tossed it toward the noise. It hit a Grunt hard in the nose, knocking it out, but not killing it. Well, if Grunts even had noses; no one could really know because of the mouth-pieces they wore. Either way, Axel had hit it.

"He must have been sent in case the rest of his buddies couldn't stop us in time. If that's the case, there are probably more of them," Zeta explained. Axel walked up to the dead Grunt as Zeta continued to speak.

"Then that leads to the question: Why would they be so desperate to stop just a simple cadet and A.I.?" she continued with a frown. Axel seemed distant now, and wasn't even looking at Zeta anymore.

"You already asked that," she said softly, bending down to touch the dead creature gently.

"Huh?" Zeta questioned.

"You already asked why they attacked us when we first crashed a few minutes ago," Axel answered. Zeta turned to her, just noticing that she was next to the Grunt.

"What are you doing?" Zeta asked. She seemed content on asking questions. Axel turned her head toward her, but didn't get up.

"Well, don't Grunts have some sort of gas stuff in their backs or something weird like that?" it was Axel's turn to ask questions. Zeta nodded.

"Well, something like that. You got close enough," she replied. "Why?"

Axel turned back to the Grunt, rolling it onto its stomach.

"Why don't we use the gas to run the Mongoose?" she questioned. Zeta put her holographic hand to her chin thoughtfully.

"That might work, but I don't think it would be enough to get us very far." As the A.I. contemplated, she raised her head and her eyes widened. She appeared to be looking at something off in the distance. Axel turned her head around to see a large wave of grunts, all running straight toward her.

"Well, now we know you were right about there being more of them," she exclaimed. She pulled her Suppressor from her back and turned on her invisibility.

"This'll only take a sec," she said to Zeta from seemingly nowhere. As she said that, Zeta logged off, and it appeared as if they had never been there.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

A few minutes later, Axel kicked a limp grunt body into a large mound of them, all dead.

"See? Told you it would only take a sec!" she said to Zeta proudly. Zeta looked at her with a frown.

"Yeah, but if you haven't noticed, we're stuck in the middle of a frozen tundra and we've got important places to be!" the A.I. hissed in an annoyed voice. Axel looked at her surroundings, and for the first time since landing on the planet she realized that it was completely covered in snow. It was also really cold too, and she sneezed a few times. Zeta looked at the chilly Spartan.

"If we do stay here too long, you'll probably freeze to death. This whole planet is literally a gigantic snowball, and most structures are built underground in order to keep its inhabitants alive," she informed.

"Well, now we've got a huge pile of grunts, and a huge pile of gas," Axel pointed out matter-of-factly. Zeta snapped her holographic green fingers.

"You're right! I'll instruct you on how to extract it correctly," she said, clapping her hands together excitedly.

A few minutes later, the Mongoose had miraculously started.

"That was extremely lucky. It doesn't even seem physically possible," Zeta went on, complaining that it didn't make sense. Axel turned to her.

"Well, it's working now, so let's go before it stops," she instructed, hopping onto the now-functioning vehicle. The engine whirred to life and the wheels spun. The spartan and the A.I. took off through the frozen tundra, leaving behind a sparkling trail of snowflakes.

After about an hour of endless driving, Axel began to hear Zeta's voice. She refused to reveal her holographic self because she didn't want to get "caught in the snow," Axel didn't understand why though, surely holograms couldn't actually get stuck in stuff.

"I'm looking at a map of the area, and we're finally getting close to the facility," the A.I. informed. "Apparently there's a better connection up here than where we were before," she added. Axel struggled to hear her at first as she got used to the wind slicing passed her ears. However, the helmet helped a bit to block out the loud sound, along with the cold chill.

"Is it always this cold?" Axel suddenly asked. Even through her armor, she was still freezing.

"Yeah, pretty much. This planet is pretty far away from any heat source, so there's nothing to keep it warm," Zeta explained. FInally, a large hill came into view.

"Is that it?" Axel questioned, pointing toward the large mound. Zeta took a moment to scan the hill, then spoke.

"Yup! We're finally here! Although, when we get there, I don't want to be the one to explain that the covenant blew up our ship…" she replied shyly. Axel rolled her eyes inside her helmet.

"Fine…I'll do it…" Axel groaned with a frown. In a few moments, the pair had reached the large snow mound. Axel turned off the Mongoose, then hopped off. Zeta appeared beside her, seemingly glad to not be moving anymore.

"So...how do we get in?" Axel questioned, tilting her head to one side. Zeta looked at the giant lump.

"Um...maybe try knocking on it?" she suggested, shrugging her green shoulders. Axel rolled her eyes. However, she decided she might as well, since they had no other option. She walked close to the snow structure, then gently rapped on the edge. Astonishingly, a small section caved in to reveal a now-open doorway.

"Oh. My. Gosh. I can't believe that actually worked," Axel mused.

"I. Can't. Either," Zeta exclaimed, a surprised expression on her holographic face.

"Well, we're in, so…" Axel trailed.

"ONWARD!" Zeta cried suddenly.

"Onward," Axel replied with a smile.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Why's it so dark in here?" Axel questioned, turning on the nightvision on her HUD to reveal a dark hallway with walls of sparkling blue ice.

"Well, considering the fact that there are approximately 5.4762 feet of soil and 9.21764 feet of snow surrounding our current area located directly vertical of this position, light rays from the outer suns encircling this planet, which are hundreds of lightyears away, are completely diminished because of thickness of our surrounding environment," Zeta explained robotically. Axel frowned, turning to the A.I.

"SPEAK. ENGLISH. PLEASE," she instructed. Zeta gave a sigh.

"Ugh...we are underground so the pretty suns can't bring pretty lights to us!" she explained slowly, as if speaking to a small child. Axel rolled her eyes and continued walking through the corridor again.

Suddenly, Axel was bathed in an exceedingly bright light that lit up the entire tunnel-like structure.

"Or maybe I'm wrong…" Zeta mused, squinting her holographic eyes. But instead of sunlight, a headlight appeared, and as expected, was attached to a person. Whoever it was had Spartan armor, and they held an Assault Rifle. They raised the weapon, pointing at Axel's head.

"Drop your weapons and put your hands where I can see them!" the Spartan instructed with a gruff male voice. Axel quickly obeyed, removing her grenades, Magnum, and Suppressor. However, she didn't take off her invisibility. Maybe he didn't notice that she had it yet. She raised her hands in the air, remaining silent.

"Who are you and how did you know where this place was?" he questioned. Axel opened her mouth to speak, but Zeta quickly appeared and interrupted.

"Look, she was sent here because she moved up a rank and I'm here to accompany her. We have full clearance here and if you think we jumped out of an exploding spaceship into a freaking GIANT SNOWBALL just to be stuck with a useless mongoose and a horde of grunts, then get shot in the face by whoever the heck you are, FOR NOTHING, you are HIGHLY mistaken!" she yelled, folding her arms angrily. The Spartan seemed shocked to see the A.I. suddenly appear, along with being highly surprised at her outburst, and lowered his weapon.

"Z...Zeta! L...look, I'm REALLY sorry, I had NO idea you were here! I...I was just following protocol!" the Spartan squeaked, clasping his hands together as if he were begging for his life. He then turned to Axel.

"I apologize sir," he said, apparently unaware of Axel's gender. Axel turned to Zeta.

"You know this guy?" she asked, a hint of surprise in her voice as she reached down to recover her weapons. The other spartan gasped as he heard her speak.

"I...I'm SO sorry ma'am...I'm being such a fool today...I'm so embarrassed…" the spartan apologized once more. Axel chuckled to herself. Next, Zeta returned her attention to the spartan. Now that he wasn't aiming for her head, Axel took the time to observe his armor. He had full EVA armor, with black as the primary color and blue as a secondary color. His emblem was a blue and green wasp.

"S...so I was, well, sent up here to be your escort...guess I kinda screwed it up, though…" the spartan explained nervously. He seemed anxious and jittery when he spoke. He probably knew about as much as Axel did about what was actually going on.

"What's your name?" Axel suddenly asked. Zeta glanced at her with a bit of surprise at the sudden and random question.

"M...me? I'm Cadet Peters," he introduced quietly. So he was the same rank as Axel. That explained a lot. "So...what do I call you?" he quickly asked.

"Cadet Taylors" Axel responded. "We should get going," she quickly added. The two spartans, closely followed by Zeta, began walking down the unusual hallway.

"So...how big _is_ this place?" Axel asked as they carried on through twisting cave systems.

"Oh, this place is HUGE! It covers most of the planet, but none of the covenant even know about it because it's all underground. Besides, it's too cold on this planet. They'd probably freeze to death before they ever found anything," Peters explained.

"Must've taken forever to build then," Axel assumed.

"Yup! The UNSC started building this place before I was even born, and they're constantly digging new tunnels. I'm surprised they haven't discovered the planet's core yet!" Peters continued. He stretched his arms out to show emphasis, but they ran into the thick and hard walls of ice that surrounded them. The nervous tone in his voice had been diminished, and it seemed as though he really enjoyed talking about the unusual base.

"Where are we going, exactly?" Axel questioned. She had just realized that she had followed a complete stranger that didn't seem to know much into an underground snow base with no escape, and she didn't even know why she was there in the first place.

This reminded her of how she had gotten there. She had completed a simple test and defeated a few holographic ODST's. Big deal. It didn't make any sense to her why she had moved up an entire rank. Or why Zeta was with her. It seemed odd that they would just drop off a valuable A.I. with a Cadet for her own personal use. She had so many questions, and none seemed to have answers.

"We're going to see my boss. He heard about what you did back at your academy. He said he wanted to speak with you, so he sent you here as soon as he could," Peters said, breaking Axel's train of thought. Well, one question had been answered. But now Axel had two more. Who was this spartan's boss? And what did he want with her?


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: Here's a nice and long chapter for y'all!** Enjoy!

Chapter 10

"Sir, Zeta has arrived,"

"I'm aware of that. I want to know if the cadet made it,"

"Yes, she did. Although…"

"Although what? I want you to tell me what happened,"

"Well...the ship they were on was attacked by covenant...they had to jump off of it and onto the planet...then they had to use grunt gas to power a mongoose…"

"Heh, see, I told you she would make a great soldier! Oh wait...I told Zeta that..."

"Well...she'll be arriving soon...do you know what you're going to tell her?"

"I do, but I don't want to tell her too much. It might be best that she figures some things out for herself,"

"What about me, sir?"

"You? Don't tell her anything that she doesn't know. If you do, I _will_ find out about it,"

"Yes sir!"

"Good. Now, you better go. She's waiting outside the door, and she needs an introduction,"

Axel and Zeta waited with Peters outside a small door; they had been for about 10 minutes. The trio were beginning to get bored as they waited, and tried to find ways to occupy themselves. Zeta and Cadet Peters played holographic cards while Axel tried to balance a knife blade on her finger.

"What's taking so long? Can't we just walk right in?" Axel asked flatly, not looking away from the knife.

"Nope. We're not allowed to go into the boss' office without an escort," Peters explained.

"Well aren't you my escort? Isn't that the whole reason you're even here?"

"Yeah...but...I mean, the boss has a lot of meetings and stuff, and you can never really tell when he's in a meeting, so he has somebody let you in when he's ready for you,"

"He better hurry up then. I'm BORED!" Axel groaned childishly. Suddenly, the metal door opened up quickly, and another spartan stood on the other side.

"The boss is ready for you," the spartan explained briefly. He had a british accent that seemed to flow as he spoke. He gestured for the trio to enter, and closed the door behind them. _Ooh...fancy!_ Axel thought. The spartan reminded her of butlers from super old movies she'd heard of before.

Her curiosity grew into anger as she looked around the room. Instead of seeing a big and mysterious figure seated in the middle of the room, like she had expected, Axel was faced with a tiny, empty room with nothing in it but a few dinky little chairs and a huge screen. The screen was on, and seemed to be relaying a message, but the face of this mysterious person was nowhere to be found. The screen was blank despite a blue line in the middle.

The spartan with the British accent gestured to the puny little chairs, beckoning Peters and Axel to sit. Axel folded her arms and slumped down into a chair, contemplating how miserable her day had been so far. She suddenly noticed that she was exhausted and starving, but kept her mouth shut and tried to ignore it.

Whoever was relaying the message began to speak, and the blue line bounced up and down as it recorded sound waves.

"You are Cadet Taylors, I presume?" the voice spoke. It had obviously been edited so that it sounded much lower than it actually was. _Ok, this is too cheesy…_ Axel thought with a frown.

"Uh, yeah, I am. Ya mind telling me why I flew all the way out here, got blown up, fell onto a popsicle of a planet, got attacked by a gruntpocalypse, and never during all of this got food?" she asked with a hint of a sneer in her voice. Exhaustion had made her grumpy and she just wanted food and sleep. The room went silent for a moment.

"I apologize for the troubles you've been through, cadet, but I need you to please listen," the strange person said, the sound waves bumping up and down slightly. Axel stayed silent, beckoning them to proceed.

"I've been watching you for a while now. You're a great soldier. You know that, don't you?"

"Actually, I don't, I've only actually been in battle twice, and both times it wasn't even a real battle,"

"Well, three times. If I'm correct, you were...attacked by some ODST's before you left to come here, correct?" Axel fell silent.

"Anyways, I don't need to see you fight to know that you are an excellent prodigy,"

"Hmph, if you could call it that…"

"I have a job for you. There is a-"

"Why did I have to come out here if I could just video chat with you from back at the academy?"

"That is not your concern. Now if you don't mind, I would like to tell you what I want you to do without interruption," Axel went quiet again.

"Thank you. Anyway, there is a small town on a planet near here in need of some...assistance. You see, the mayor of the town doesn't like the UNSC for some strange reason in which my sources have not yet revealed to me. I need you, cadet Peters, and Zeta to go there and convince him that the UNSC is meant to protect. We picked up a Covenant fleet on our radar that's headed for the town and the mayor refuses to let us help because he thinks we're bad," the voice explained seriously.

 _Why me, though? It's not my job to do what strangers tell me...Why am I here?_ Axel had these and many more questions swimming through her brain, and it seemed as if none would ever be answered.

Zeta began to speak privately to her, though.

"Keep calm and just do it. I know you're confused, but as soon as you do this I'm sure you can go home," the A.I. whispered. Axel gave a sigh.

"Fine...I'll do it…" she groaned. "But can I at least have lunch first?"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Axel sat quietly in a Falcon with Peters sitting across from her. They had already reached the planet they were sent to, and were headed to the apparent anti-spartan town. The journey was quick, with no cryo-sleep necessary. The propellers of the Falcon buzzed loudly, and Axel decided better than to speak, knowing that she would have to yell about nothing important.

However, the view from so high up was quite astounding, with rolling lush hills and great pine forests. Well, they resembled pine trees, other than the odd bright purple hue that they had. There were also huge fields of odd crops that Axel didn't recognize, such what appeared to be bushes of vibrant and multi-colored berries, hedges that resembled cooking utensils, and even giant mushrooms that appeared to have lava-like substances seeping slowly from the tops.

Then, the beautiful flora turned into a majestic city, filled with giant skyscrapers, brilliant street lights, and giant roads. Thousands of busy people lined the streets, and from up above, they looked miniscule. As the Falcon flew overhead, Axel thought she could see a few heads turning toward the sky.

Suddenly, there was a loud static noise coming from both Peters' and Axel's radio, and a young woman's voice came on.

"Hey cadets! This is control, just a head's up, the covenant fleet will be approaching in a few hours, so you better convince that mayor to let us help fast," she urged. Just like that, the radio turned off, and once again, all that could be heard was the sound of the Falcon's propeller as it landed on the far edge of the marvelous city.

When it did finally land, Axel and Peters hauled themselves out of the vehicle and landed on the concrete ground with a thump.

"So...where _is_ the mayor?" Axel asked, taking in the spectacular civilization that stood before her. Just then, the radio turned on again.

"Oh, yeah, sorry! I'm sending the coordinates now," the young woman replied in a perky voice. Suddenly, a small marker appeared on Axel's HUD, telling her and Peters where the mayor's office was. It was quite a few blocks away, and Axel groaned at the thought of walking all the way to the office.

"Why can't we grab a Hog or something and just drive there?" she asked.

"Well, one: there are two many people and we'd probably run some over in the process. Two: where are we going to get a Hog? and Three: We don't want the civilians to panic by driving through town on a jeep with a giant gun strapped to the back," Peters explained.

"And we're not going to cause them to panic by wearing battle armor?" Axel retorted.

"Let's just start walking rather than arguing, we're just wasting time," Peters replied. He began walking, and he didn't seem to care if Axel was following or not. Therefor, she followed slowly, grumbling in the the process.

As the pair walked through the middle of the road, Axel made an odd discovery that she hadn't noticed before.

"Hey Zeta?" she summoned the AI, who had been silent for most of the journey.

"Yeah?" Zeta responded quietly.

"Why isn't anyone driving anything? Why are they all walking?" Axel asked as she stared at the barren road. The civilians seemed to be sticking to the sidewalks, even though they didn't seem to be in any danger of getting run over.

"Well...the mayor isn't exactly the brightest. He spent everyone's money on building huge buildings, and now everyone is too broke to actually buy any transportation. Most of them just walk to work, and they can barely afford nice clothes anymore," Zeta explained, her voice almost a whisper.

"Why are you talking so quietly?" Peters suddenly asked the AI.

"Because everyone is staring at us and trying to hear what we're doing here," she answered, gesturing toward the civilians. As she mentioned it, Axel realized for the first time that people were indeed staring at the odd trio as they passed. Some even threw them dirty glances and disgraceful frowns.

"Wow, I guess the mayor has a lot of influence on these people," Peters whispered, as his voice had gone quiet as well.

"Just...keep walking, keep your heads down, and hope none of these townsfolk do anything stupid. They're just like the mayor. They have short tempers, and they really hate outsiders," Zeta instructed.

She quickly disappeared inside Axel's HUD, probably hoping that people would be less suspicious without a little green holographic person floating around. Axel thought about turning on her invisibility, but decided better of it. Too many people had already seen her, and too many people were staring at her. It would cause much alarm to have a huge spartan suddenly disappear in the middle of thousands of people.

Instead, Axel did as she was told and dipped her head. As she walked, she kept one hand on her Magnum, just in case. As she walked through the streets, she could feel the peoples' tension around her. A group of teenage ruffians suddenly encircled the spartans, walking with them.

"What you think you're doin' here? Spartans don't belong here!" one of them hissed, jabbing Peters in the shoulder with his finger.

"That's classified information that you shouldn't be concerned about. Now please, if you don't mind, we have places to be," Peters retorted calmly, pushing the teen's hand off of his shoulder lightly. Axel couldn't help but feel impressed at the cadet's response compared to when she had first met him.

The group, which seemed to consist of five boys in tattered clothes, frowned at Peters. Another boy jumped up behind Axel and flicked her helmet.

"You can't just come into our town like that and expect to leave us in the dark!" the boy, who had dyed his hair green, hissed, smiling mischievously. Quickly, a third boy went to snatch Axel's Magnum. However, she was faster, and snatched him by the wrist with her left hand. Her grip was tight, and as the boy squirmed, it grew tighter. The group of ruffians stared at her and the boy she was holding for a moment.

Then came a snap, and a squeal of pain. Axel dropped the teen's hand, and his face twisted in pain. The other four boys ran to him and quickly ushered him away. One turned his head toward Axel.

"Creep!" he growled, and the boys disappeared around a corner. Peters turned away from the group and looked at his companion without saying anything.

"Let's keep going," Axel whispered, continuing on toward the office building as if the incident hadn't happened.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: Sorry this chapter came so late! It's way longer than the others, so it took a while to write. Enjoy!**

Chapter 12

Camilla loved shopping. Everyone who knew her knew that. She spent almost all her time wandering through stores and gaping at beautiful outfits in shop windows. However, all the shopping forced her to walk around town a lot. As she walked down the concrete street, she would often find herself observing the odd people that strolled through town on a daily basis. There were people with creepy tattoos, people with wild hairstyles, and sometimes just people with odd body shapes. She could have sworn that some of them were grunts in disguise.

However, as she wandered the streets that day, looking for a pair of heels to add to the 56 others in her shoe collection, she came across someone she would have never expected to see casually walking through town. It was a spartan, taller than most of the people on the street and wearing a complete set of black armor with a blue tint.

He seemed unaware of the fact that he stood out like a sore thumb, and as Camilla looked closer, she realized his mouth was moving. He appeared to be mumbling quietly to himself, and she became interested in learning more about him. Everyone that she knew thought the Spartans were evil, and should all be executed. Well, except Camilla. She refused to dislike them until she learned more about them.

So now, in a white pencil skirt and high heels, Camilla weaved through the crowd after the spartan, trying her best not to seem suspicious. She apologized to a few pedestrians as she brushed past them, and began to get frantic as the spartan got further ahead of her. Boy, the streets were cramped today.

As people jostled her around and pushed her farther backward, Camilla gave a small jump in attempts to glimpse the spartan. As she jumped, she thought she could vaguely see the air near his right shoulder _ripple._ But just like that, the spartan had disappeared in the crowd, and Camilla gave a frown as she dipped into a nearby coffee shop.

"Did you see her? She was staring at us! This was a horrible plan! 'Don't worry about it! We just need to blend in!' Well, how's that working out? Huh?" the air near Peters hissed quietly.

"Taylors, you're _invisible!_ It's literally _impossible_ for people to notice you!" Peters retorted. A few people stared at the odd spartan who appeared to be arguing with himself.

"I'm not talking about me! When you spend your life listening to a crummy mayor who thinks spartans are horrible and then suddenly see one walking down the street like it's normal, you might get a little suspicious!" the air snapped again.

"What else were we supposed to do, run across skyscrapers!?" Peters questioned, lowering his voice a bit.

"Would you two shut up and walk faster? Someone's going to get even more suspicious! You're as loud as brutes using megaphones!" Zeta's voice commanded, silencing both cadets. They walked in silence the rest of the way to the mayor's office, which was the biggest building in the whole town. It literally seemed to touch the sky, and it reminded Axel of some creepy evil fortress for a villain. It was straight black, with hundreds of windows covering every side.

Just before the pair walked through the automatic double doors, Axel quickly ducked into a small alleyway and turned off her invisibility, and then they walked in. The inside of the building was just as fancy as the outside, with gorgeous marble flooring and golden walls with flowing flower designs that had been carefully carved into every inch. The seats seemed to be made out of fine black velvet, if that was even a thing. A young man in a tuxedo sat in one of the chair, and it seemed so squishy that he appeared to almost sink to the floor.

Axel couldn't help but feel that she was not worthy to be in the presence of such a magnificent place as she and Peters walked up to the front desk. (Which was made of gold so shiny that you could see your full reflection in it) The receptionist, an old woman who looked like she would make a great librarian, looked at the two cadets with surprise in her eyes, which were wrinkled at the edges. Her nametag read Judy, and her black dress looked to be worth at least a hundred units.

"H...how may I help y...you?" she asked, a hint of fear in her voice as she took in the irregularly tall spartans that stood before her. As she asked this, Axel realized she had no idea what to say. Luckily, Zeta, who had remained hidden, spoke for her.

"We are cadet Daniel Peters and Cadet Axel Taylors, here for a meeting with Mayor Douglas," Zeta explained. With the AI's voice coming from Axel's helmet, it appeared to the receptionist that Axel had been the one speaking. Now Axel just had to try hard not to say anything to the receptionist-Judy- and let Zeta do the talking.

Judy pointed a shaky finger toward an elevator, where two guards stood at either side. They weren't spartans or ODST's' just simple marines in bullet-proof vests. They had guns, though, and Axel decided to stay as far as she could on their good side.

"I...It's the 30th f...floor, third door to the right," Judy stuttered. She waved the pair off, apparently eager to get rid of them.

The elevator ride was pretty quiet and peaceful, other than the fact that one of the marines that had followed the cadets up kept shooting them dirty glances. However, it did seem to take forever to reach the 30th floor, because it just so happened to be on the highest floor of the building. It was a good thing neither of the spartans were afraid of heights. Or at least, they weren't until they saw the windows. They were even higher up than they had been in the Falcon, and Axel was honestly a bit shocked that she hadn't noticed the giant building before.

The pair walked at a brisk pace as they followed the directions Judy had given them. They past at least 50 doors as they passed. They couldn't figure out which door was the right one until they came across one guarded by two more marines. They asked for the cadets' information, and once again, Zeta did all the talking.

They didn't think the building could get any more grand, and yet, here they were. The room had a far wall made entirely of glass, with red velvet curtains that were pulled to the sides to reveal a marvelous view of the entire town. Axel couldn't tell what the other walls were made out of, but they looks sparkly and expensive, like diamond. The floor appeared to be made out of pure emerald, and the ceiling was encrusted marble.

Around the edges of the room stood marble pedestals, each one holding some sort of rare covenant, UNSC, and even Forerunner tech. Smack in the middle of the room was a desk so fancy it didn't even seem that a king would be worthy to sit at it.

However, the person who did sit at it hardly seemed like he was worthy to sit at a picnic table in a barn. His hair was ruffled and grey, and he appeared to be at least in his mid-80's. And as I tell you this now, I try to explain it in the nicest possible way. He was _fat._ His stomach spilled out off of the sides of the gold chair he was sitting in, and none of his clothes seemed to be fitting.

As Axel looked closer, she realized the tuxedo he was wearing had lost a few buttons, and the pants were covered in tears. The shoes burst at the soles, which didn't seem possible considering the fact that they looked so hard that it seemed as if a brute couldn't break them with a gravity hammer. And yet, fat pink toes peeked through, and I honestly don't think anybody knew why he wasn't wearing socks. He had no facial hair, and Axel couldn't tell if the wrinkles on his face were from old age or just extra skin.

"Hello, you must be the spartans who were sent here to 'speak with me," the man grunted with an odd, low voice that didn't seem to fit his appearance. Zeta didn't say anything, signaling that Axel would have to do her own talking for once.

"Yes, sir. We've come here to warn you about the oncoming covenant attack on your town and we'd like to help," Axel explained quickly, proud that she had said it so professionally. The man, who she assumed was the mayor, nodded his head slowly, and didn't seemed as intimidated by their presence as Judy had.

"Ok, shoot! Why should I allow a brutal killing machine that would likely kill everyone in my quaint little town for no reason help me?" he words were rude, yet the tone of his voice seemed as if you would ask a simple question to a friend.

"Sir, I don't know where you got that idea from, but-" Peters began, a hint of anger in his voice as Axel broke in.

"Sir, spartans are specified for fighting covenant forces. We would be the best choice in keeping your townspeople alive," she reasoned. She couldn't help but wonder why this man was so against spartans. Then again, it seemed that she wondered about a lot of things lately.

The mayor sat quietly for a moment, staring into space for a moment as if remembering something. Then his expression turned cold and he frowned, staring back up at the spartans.

"Get out! Get out now! Leave and never come back or I will have you executed!" he suddenly shouted, pointing a fat finger toward the door in which they had come in.

"W...what?" Peters gasped as the pair were each gripped on the arm by a marine. Axel lightly but firmly shoved the marine off her, but he quickly clung back on, tugging her toward the door. However, this time she pulled her arm forward hard enough that it sent her captor face-first into the expensive floor. Peters struggled to shake off the marine holding him, but he was strong and muscular, and began fighting back.

The marine on the ground quickly recovered, snatching a gun from the floor which he had been holding earlier. He prepared to aim it, but Axel wasn't having any of it. She did a high backspring, and as her legs came up, she hit the weapon and sent it upward. When she was up on her feet again, she managed to grab it before the marine and the roles became switched quickly.

Suddenly, there came a sound of rumbling, like lightning, but it was still clear and cloudless outside. The mayor took a quick look out the window and struggled to yank his rotund body out of the small chair he had been sitting in. He looked shocked and terrified, and began waddling toward the door. He did so while screaming and waving his short, chubby arms in the air.

"What's going on?" the marine Peters had been fighting questioned. All four people had stopped fighting for a moment to stare at the odd behavior of the overfed mayor.

"The covenant are attacking!" he cried in a child-like voice which echoed down the hallway as he hobbled away, his pants tearing as he went.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Do we fight?!"

"Of course we fight!"

"But the mayor doesn't want us to!"

"I DON'T CARE IF THE WORLD WAS EXPLODING AND HE SAID WE SHOULDN'T TRY TO ESCAPE! WE DON'T FIGHT AND EVERY LAST MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD DIES!" Axel suddenly hollered as the pair rushed toward the elevator and began their descent. It seemed to take forever before before the doors finally slid open and the rushed out, weapons in hand.

The streets were in chaos, with majestic skyscrapers burning and covenant running about firing their weapons at will. Screams from citizens and a variety of other odd noises from the covenant filled the alleyways and roads. Mothers cried desperately with their children, fathers tried to protect their families, and people who were alone scrambled to get indoors.

"Oh no…" Peters groaned, his voice dismal and glum. However, Axel was no longer by his side, and was now a few feet ahead, grabbing an elite by the shoulders and trying to drag it to the ground. Once she had defeated this enemy, she became invisible in order to sneak up on and assassinate others.

Peters began fighting as well, pulling out his Assault Rifle and firing rapidly. He was holding up well for a few minutes, eliminating all hostiles within four feet of him. However, he was suddenly jumped from behind by an elite, who clung on to his back before Peters jumped backward, landing his big, muscular body on top of it.

As for Axel, she had been doing quite well herself. _What was that new combination I fought myself?_ She now faced a brute holding a gravity hammer. The furry creature threw the hammer down too late, and Axel back flipped out of the way. It prepared for another swing, but as the hammer came down, she jumped up.

As she fell back down, she used her agility to carefully balance and crouch on the handle of the weapon brute, who didn't seem very smart, flung its hammer up, as if it thought she could hit her while she was on it. She jumped out of the way as the hollow-headed brute's face made contact with his own hammer.

Now alone in the midst of battle with no enemies attacking her, Axel quickly glanced around, quickly checking on Peters. He had put down a bubble shield, which was currently surrounded by a few jackals. However, as the shield lowered, he was capable enough to take them out without too much trouble. Peters put the shield away for use later and quickly went on to another group of enemies.

As Axel turned to do the same, an elite came hurtling toward her, energy sword in hand. She knew this creature was smarter than the brute, and the same trick she had just used probably wouldn't work. Also, it would most likely be nearly impossible to balance on an energy sword without slicing her legs off, so she thought better of it and came up with a better plan.

Axel decided to dodge the attacks first in order to learn about this particular enemy's fighting style. After a few minutes of dodging, she had concluded that the elite was good at aim and swing, but it was slow. Axel used this to her advantage, easily sliding passed its assaults and slipping underneath it. She was behind the armor-wearing alien now, and the creature was, as Axel had expected, too slow to prevent her from ending it.

She heard a few murmurs around her from townsfolk as they ran to safety. They were just noticing her defeat the elite as they raced passed.

"Is that a spartan?"

"What's a spartan doing here?"

"Does the mayor know about it?"

"Are they...helping us?"

"I thought they were supposed to be bad!" Axel only thought for a moment about these questions and comments as she raced around the town which was now slowly falling apart in front of her.

Suddenly, there was a loud shriek that rang louder than all the others, and Axel picked out a young woman, screaming and pointing toward the streets from under a building's balcony. Axel turned to look where she was pointing, and saw a young boy, maybe six or seven, crying as he searched for his mother. A tall and thin building behind his was burning quickly, and was beginning to lean forward, threatening to fall over and crush the small child.

The next thing she knew, Axel was racing past Peters, snatching his bubble shield, and running toward the boy. She felt as if she wasn't in control of her own body; it was as if she was relying on instinct alone. The building creaked, and the walls cracked. It leaned further and further as she grew nearer. She was almost in reach of the child now...but so was the structure. Then, a loud, unearthly _snap_ came from the building as it came crashing down, sending smoke and dust up everywhere.

The woman who had been screaming, who was most likely the mother, fell to her knees, tears streaming down her eyes. But ten, as the dust settled, she caught a glimpse of something in the midst of the rubble. It had the appearance of a large bubble, but it seemed to be strong enough to hold the large chunks of debris that balanced on top of it.

What amazed her the most was that she could see her own little boy, being held tightly by a spartan, whom she had been convinced was a terrible and murderous excuse for a human. And yet there it was, as clear as day, her son perfectly fine and safe in the arms of a spartan.

Axel looked around her at the bubble shield surrounding her and the child. She would have given a sigh of relief, but knew it wasn't the time. The shield was beginning to collapse, and there was still heavy debris on top of it, directly above her head. Quickly, she looked at the boy she was holding for a moment and then dropped to her knees, careful to keep as much of him underneath her as possible.

The bubble shield went down, and chunks of the building fell on top of her painfully, but Axel refused to collapse. When the chunks had finally seemed to stop falling, she shoved them off her back and got the boy on his feet. He was terrified; anyone with eyes could see that. He was shaking in fear, and his crying had turned into a soft whimper.

Axel kneeled down in front of him, pulling off her helmet and looking him in the eyes, gripping his cheeks lightly and gently.

"Are you ok, sweetie?" she asked softly, using a voice she didn't even know she had. The boy nodded his head slowly, then shot forward quickly to hug her. She hugged back, proud that she had saved his life, which had almost been ended very quickly. She let him go.

"Where's your mommy?" she asked, glancing around the streets for the woman she had seen earlier. The boy stopped hugging her and took time to look around. The pair both searched for his mother, and in the process, Axel realized that a people had begun gathering and staring at her. _Of course! They must be surprised to see a "heartless killing machine" saving someone…_

Finally, the child pointed out the woman she had seen earlier rushing toward them. The boy got up, toddling over to her as fast as his short legs could go. They gripped each other tightly, and the woman had tears rolling down her cheeks. As they did so, Axel got back on her feet and returned her helmet to her head. The woman glanced at her for a moment before quickly scurrying away with her child in her arms.

The rest of the covenant seemed to have either retreated or been killed by the falling building, and the streets were now silent as people helped each other shakily to their feet. Peters came up behind Axel quietly.

"It's time we left. Now that the covenant are gone, the mayor will probably have us arrested. The falcon is already on its way," he said softly, gripping her shoulder. She nodded, and the two began running toward the edge of town, where they had come from.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to post this!**

Chapter 14

A bright screen flashed on, illuminating the surrounding room, along with Axel's face. She had returned to the snow base, and was beginning to miss the warm and fancy mayor's office. Anything was better than the cold, dark underground environment. And yet, there she was, stuffed into a cramped room in which she was meant to sleep with Peters. He seemed like much more than an escort, and was more like a companion now.

He wasn't in the small confinement now; he had left to go eat in the mess hall. She would have too, but wanted to try uncovering the many questions she still had. She tried looking up the odd snow planet's name, and found nothing. She searched up the horrid town she had been to, and nothing. She even tried looking up both Zeta and Cadet Peters. And, surprise, surprise, she had found nothing.

Now, she spun around in the swivel seat, twisting her dog tags in between her fingers. She felt as if she was supposed feel homesick, and maybe miss at least someone. But she couldn't think of anyone to miss. She had always been a bit isolated as a child, more of an observer rather than a social butterfly.

Axel found her thoughts drifting to the only two people whom she had been somewhat close to, Tony and Chris. She tried to imagine what they would probably be doing at the moment. Maybe studying battle strategies, fighting in another simulated firefight, or even possibly complaining about classes over lunch in the mess hall. She wanted to go back to the academy and train. Actually, no she didn't. At the academy, she was pushed around, hated, gossiped about.

Suddenly, the computer in front of her vibrated, and a recorded message began to play.

"Taylors, I have another job for you. There's a cruise ship on another planet near here. It has some...unique cargo that must be dealt with. We need you to find it and return it to me. I've sent you a picture of the symbol that should be on the outside of its container. There's a pelican waiting outside for-" Axel shut off the computer. _Great, I'm supposed to run another stupid errand without even knowing why…_

She gave a sigh, trying to make the most of having a clear head for once. Zeta had been needed to help check a failing pelican's wiring systems, which had begun starting random fires every time the vehicle started up. For the first time since leaving the academy, Axel truly was utterly alone. She didn't mind though. She got to her feet slowly, and decided she'd better go to the dock before she got in trouble.

A few hours later, she found herself in the middle of a large platform made of an odd-colored wood. It was dilapidated and rotted, and seemed to be hundreds of years old. After a very long and boring pelican ride to this new planet, Axel felt sore and tired of sitting down. After jumping off the flying vehicle, she took the time to give a large stretch until her back popped.

Suddenly, the loud blare of a horn sliced through the air, rattling the spartan's eardrums as a massive, majestic boat slowly chugged into the harbor. It was a vehicle of perfection, with a long, pointed front bow, and a sleek hull. The propellers on the thing were huge, and there didn't seem to be a single scratch anywhere. It was a boat of perfection, and the withered, creaky, and moldy dock Axel was standing on didn't seem worthy of its presence.

A metal platform was lowered from the top of the ship, and a crowd of people busily clambered off. Just then, a swarm of more people streamed onto the ship from behind Axel, seemingly unaware of her. Only when the chaos seemed to die down did she step onto the platform and walk up, closely followed by Peters.

Almost instantly they were greeted by a butler in a fancy outfit. He handed her a map of the giant ship, and she became astonished at how many different rooms there were. Peters leaned over her shoulder so that he could observe, too.

"Why is there a pool here? If you wanna swim, just jump in the ocean!" he stated with a gentle laugh, pointed at a blue spot labeled "pool" toward the top of the map. Axel shrugged as the butler gestured for them to follow him.

He didn't seem intimidated by the pair as everyone in the fancy town had been. Then again, he'd probably already met some pretty odd passengers anyways, and maybe the spartans weren't the most obscure and out of place. He remained silent for the majority of the small journey, and only spoke when showing them to a small cabin in which they would be residing in temporarily.

"The captain should be in to speak with you soon. Until then, I must ask you to remain in here for security reasons," he explained quickly. Just like that, the butler had ushered them in, walked out, and shut the door behind him. There was a clicking noise as he locked the door. The pair sat in shocked silence for a moment.

"What do they mean by 'security reasons'? Why'd they lock us in here?" Peters asked. The confusion was so clear in his voice you could almost hear one eyebrow raising.

"I dunno...maybe they don't want us snooping around in things we don't belong in," Axel replied, shrugging her metal-plated shoulders. She walked over to a porthole and peeked out. She expected to see blue water, and it was in fact blue, but the shade of it was absolutely astonishing. It was _turquoise,_ and seemed to sparkle. However, on closer examination, Axel realized that it was actually millions of little turquoise fish that made a sort of cloud on the surface.

"But snooping around in things we don't belong in is kind of our thing!" Peters replied, shaking her shoulder. She quit gazing out at the ocean and turned to look at him.

"You aren't suggesting…"

"Oh, yes I am!"

"But won't we get in huge trouble? We could get kicked off the boat and thrown into the ocean! These suits probably sink like rocks!"

"Yeah, but we're supposed to find a box with a certain symbol on it, aren't we? Well, how are we supposed to find it if we're stuck in here?"

"I hate you."

"Eh, a lot of people do."

Axel gave a sigh. She didn't want to leave the cabin. She wanted to speak with the captain of the ship, like the butler had promised. She didn't want to get in trouble. Then again, she also didn't want to be at war with aliens, and she didn't want to be left in the dark while being ordered to do seemingly meaningless tasks. And yet she could do nothing about either.

"Fine, Peters. I will disobey the butler and go with you. Just answer me one question: how the heck are we supposed to get out of here? The door's locked, genius," Axel snorted, pointing toward the wooden door.

"Taylors, we're spartans. We battle aliens. We don't get stopped by wooden doors. We've got guns, right? Why don't we just shoot at it till there's a big enough hole to climb through? Ooh, ooh, or why don't we be like super-ninja-spy-dudes and just kick the door down? We could have our guns drawn, and we could look SO cool!" Peters explained excitedly.

Axel gave a groan, folding her arms.

"Peters, if we broke the door, someone would probably notice and then we would get kicked outta here faster than you can say 'grunt.' We need to find a way to sneak out," she suggested, a hint of annoyance in her voice. Peters looked around the room for a moment, then pointed straight up.

"We could crawl through the vents! All the cool people in the old movies do that! It's fool-proof!" he recommended. Axel gave another discouraged sigh, shaking her head.

"Ya know what? Fine! Go ahead, try crawling through the vents! Go ahead! Open the door from the other side and tell me if your plan worked!" she exclaimed, gesturing to the vent. Peters eagerly got on his toes, pulled off the vent cover, and pulled himself in.

Meanwhile, Axel folded her arms, a grin on her face. _Three...two...one…_ The ceiling broke, sending dust, debris, and Peters hurling toward the ground.

"You know, you remind me of someone I know named Chris," she snickered, pulling him to his feet.

"Ok, smart alec, or should I say smart _Axel._ What's your idea?" Peters asked, disappointment in his voice.

"Ok, step one: stop basing your plans off of old tv shows. Step two: Stay in school. Step three: Crawl out the VERY OBVIOUS PORTHOLE and land on the deck below it. Step four: Find the crate, tell control, and maybe get some smoked salmon before we leave. Is that good enough for you?" Axel asked, feeling a pinch of pride creeping up on her stomach. Now it was Peters' turn to sigh.

"Lead on…" he groaned, dipping his head and gesturing to the porthole.


	15. Important Update

Greetings, everyone. Now, I know you were probably expecting Chapter 15 to my Halo Proving Her Worth Fanfic. However, I haven't posted in a really long time, mainly because I have been really busy with a crossover with my friend, and haven't really had time to work on anything else, however, we have finished it, and I'm prepared to attempt writing PHW some more. HOWEVER, I'm not really liking some small errors throughout the story, including both grammar/spelling and minor plots. Therefor, I'm going to completely stop writing this story and make a new story with a different name. DON'T FREAK OUT! It's still going to be the same story with Axel and Peters and Zeta and the fat mayor and all those guys. EXCEPT it will have slight differences and interactions, and I might work on it a bit more. Possibly. Just imagine the 14 chapters I have posted as, like, first drafts because I haven't really thoroughly gone through them and there are quite a few ways I could make it better. Also, I have a few other Fanfics that aren't Halo that I hope to post sometime soon. (Which I probably won't because I'm lazy) So there will not be a Chapter 15 for a while, but there will be the same story with a (possibly) different name and it won't be in this specific place. I don't know when this will happen, but make sure to keep an eye out for that and I'm really sorry for the inconvenience. I'm Moony and I thank you all for having interest in my first fanfiction!


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